Above: Dr. Francis (center) and Melissa Ohden (right) advocating for pregnant women and preborn children at the Senate HELP Committee hearing. Photo Credits: Senate Photo Studio
On Tuesday, June 4, AAPLOG CEO and board-certified OB/GYN Dr. Christina Francis testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) on the impact of abortion laws on women’s healthcare. She presented her expert testimony at a committee hearing salaciously titled “The Assault on Women’s Freedom: How Abortion Bans Have Created a Healthcare Nightmare Across America.” This hearing was guest-chaired by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), president pro tempore of the Senate, and was held in anticipation of a vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which occurred the next day. The bill, which would have gutted conscience protections and also potentially mandated abortion-inducing drugs like mifepristone, did not pass this vote.
As the title suggests, this hearing was quite slanted, with twice as many pro-abortion witnesses as pro-life witnesses. Dr. Francis testified alongside pro-life advocate Melissa Ohden of the Abortion Survivors Network, who shared her story of being born alive after an attempted saline abortion.
In her opening statement, Dr. Francis defended the importance of life-affirming medicine, pushing back against several false narratives about pro-life laws that have been promoted in the media. She stated,
There has been a lot of false information being spread that laws limiting abortion will prevent these life-saving treatments, but this is absurd. Not only do NO state laws prohibit these treatments, but even state laws restricting abortion pre-Roe allowed for them. The more than 7,000 members of AAPLOG, along with the remainder of the 93% of OB/GYNs who do NOT perform abortions, know that induced abortion does not need to be legal in order to ensure we can provide our patients with excellent healthcare.
-Dr. Christina Francis
Many of these false narratives were unfortunately repeated by the pro-abortion witnesses. Though we didn’t have the opportunity to respond directly to each of their claims during the hearing, you can watch a more in-depth analysis of this hearing on this week’s podcast episode.
We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to stand up for our pregnant and preborn patients in front of our nation’s legislature and to represent all of you as well. Additionally, we are very proud of all our members who have engaged in public advocacy similarly. Any member who hopes to one day become an advocate for life-affirming medicine but would like more training and preparation is encouraged to register for one of our upcoming expert witness training sessions, where they will become equipped to speak out in court and in the media.
